Terrell Suggs explains Ball So Hard University

November 09, 2011|By Matt Vensel

The most famous student of Ball So Hard University strutted in front of a throng of reporters Wednesday. And naturally, he wore a black Ball So Hard University T-shirt as he explained where his school spirit came from.

"A lot of guys on this team attended Ball So Hard University, including myself," Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "The dean of students and president of the school is actually Shawn Carter," better known as Jay-Z.

Suggs created an internet sensation before Sunday night’s 23-20 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers when he said his alma mater was “Ball So Hard University” as the Ravens defense was introduced in a NBC graphic.

"It was trending for like 48 hours. It was crazy," he said. "It's a song. It's an actual song by Jay-Z, and I thought people would actually [have] thought the song was hotter, but as soon as I said it, it started [getting] crazy."

The song he referenced was “N-----s in Paris” from Jay-Z and Kanye West’s latest album, “Watch the Throne.”

Ball So Hard University T-shirts are already being sold online. “That’s has nothing to do with me,” Suggs said.

So what inspired Suggs, the team’s resident joker, to list BSHU as his former school and not Arizona State?

“It was just fun. It really started because I said ‘Donnie and Duke University’ [in the past]. Those are my children. They kept saying it was my parents,” he said. “I said, ‘You know what, I'm going to do something different.’ I just so happened to be listening to the song going into the interview, and Ball So Hard University was born."